Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Information


Suspicions may be aroused if the mother was drunk at prenatal visits or when she delivered. The only way to diagnose FAS is to find the characteristic signs and symptoms and discover a history of drinking during pregnancy. Many women will not admit to excessive drinking while pregnant. In fact, the CDC and the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecologists recommend that women should completely avoid alcohol not only during pregnancy but also when trying to conceive. In addition to the risk of FAS and other birth defects, drinking when pregnant is associated with other risks like low birth weight and preterm delivery.

How common is fetal alcohol syndrome?

Researchers estimate that fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) occurs in approximately one to two in 1,000 live births in the United States. According to reports in the medical literature, FAS is considered the primary cause of mental retardation in the Western world.

At the time, nobody was aware of the full range of possible birth defects from FAS or its rate of prevalence. Currently, FAS is the only expression of prenatal alcohol exposure defined by the International Statistical what causes fetal alcohol syndrome Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems and assigned ICD-9 and diagnoses. For many adopted or adults and children in foster care, records or other reliable sources may not be available for review.

What Are The Symptoms Of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders?

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a characteristic pattern of mental and physical birth defects that results due to maternal use of alcohol during pregnancy. The range and severity of associated abnormalities may vary greatly from case to case. However, characteristic features may include growth delays before and after birth ; malformations of the skull and facial region; brain abnormalities; and/or additional physical findings.

While the condition is permanent, treatment can improve outcomes. Interventions may include parent–child interaction therapy, efforts to modify child behavior, and possibly medications. It is difficult to diagnosis FASDs, because there is no single or simple test that can cover the broad range of FASD signs and symptoms. A known history of alcohol consumption during the pregnancy aids in diagnosis but is not required for diagnosis of an FASD. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders is an umbrella term used to describe the range of effects that can occur in an individual with prenatal alcohol exposure. These effects can have lifelong implications including physical, mental, behavior, and/or learning issues. Which babies will be affected from prenatal alcohol exposure varies based on genetics, nutrition, environmental factors, and other exposures like cigarette smoking.

Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (pfas)

These treatments include surgeries to correct physical characteristics and medications to address behavioral issues such as inattention, hyperactivity, anxiety and depression. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most serious of the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and encompasses a range of mental, physical and behavioral problems that babies develop when their moms drink heavily during pregnancy. All women should be reminded of the risk of prenatal alcohol exposure. If a woman is informed of the risk and decides to drink, that is her decision–NOFAS is opposed to any rules, regulations, or statutes that seek to punish or sanction women for drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Practitioners should always inform their patients about the risks of known exposures. Birth defects related to prenatal alcohol exposure can include abnormalities in the heart, kidneys, bones, and/or hearing. A diagnosis of Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder requires evidence of both prenatal alcohol exposure and CNS abnormalities, which may be structural or functional.

what causes fetal alcohol syndrome

Children with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder may have clinically significant CNS involvement but few or no characteristic physical features. Fetal alcohol syndrome belongs to a group of health problems called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder . The FDA has designated specific drugs do i have a drinking problem for treating the symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol in babies. However, there is no treatment for lifelong birth defects and intellectual disability. Babies and children with alcohol-related damage often need developmental follow-up and, possibly, long-term treatment and care.

Light Drinking During Pregnancy

Facial abnormalities and growth retardation need not be present. Prenatal alcohol exposure is a leading preventable cause of birth defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the United States. It can cause a range of developmental, cognitive, and behavioral problems, which can appear at any time during childhood and last a lifetime. Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse Alcoholism is a disease that includes alcohol craving and continued drinking despite repeated alcohol-related problems, such as losing a job or getting into trouble with the law. It can cause myriad health problems, including cirrhosis of the liver, birth defects, heart disease, stroke, psychological problems, and dementia. Counseling and a few medications can be effective for alcoholism treatment. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the first diagnosable condition of FASD that was discovered.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a condition that may occur in children whose mothers drink during pregnancy. The disorder is characterized by growth deficiency, abnormal facial features and central Genetics of Alcoholism nervous system problems caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. Indeed, the zebrafish has been successfully utilized to test the teratogenic effects of embryonic alcohol exposure.

Areas Evaluated For Fasd Diagnoses

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders is an umbrella term for a wide range of effects of a child whose mother drank alcohol during the pregnancy. FASD is used to describe conditions that occur in individuals who have been diagnosed with some, but not all, of the symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS is increasingly recognized as a diagnosed condition with a high probability of developmental delay, thus deserving early intervention. But there are many additional children, who do not have the full syndrome but do show diagnosable FASDs, who have a high likelihood of developmental delay and significant later psychopathology. Because of this, providing early intervention services for all children diagnosed with FASDs is vital. An even broader approach that is strongly encouraged is to classify developmentally vulnerable young children ‘at-risk’ because of prenatal alcohol exposure coupled with evidence of emerging learning problems and/or environmental risk.

  • Alcohol alters the development of the brain and many other body organs of the developing fetus.
  • People with FASDs show a combination of physical, emotional, behavioral, and learning issues that range from mild to severe.
  • Each person with an FASD has their own unique combination of signs and symptoms.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome describes changes in a baby born to a mother with alcohol exposure during pregnancy. A broader term is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder , which describes any physical or developmental disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. The changes depend on the amount, frequency and the timing of the consumption of alcohol by the mother during pregnancy. The first three months of pregnancy is the time in which vital organs like the heart and the kidney are developing. Drinking alcoholic beverages in that time period can be especially harmful. However, these other FASD conditions may create disabilities similar to FAS if the key area of central nervous system damage shows clinical deficits in two or more of ten domains of brain functioning. Essentially, even though growth deficiency and/or FAS facial features may be mild or nonexistent in other FASD conditions, yet clinically significant brain damage of the central nervous system is present.

What Are The Symptoms Of Fasd?

If an exposed, ‘at-risk’ child does not qualify for early intervention, or improves after intervention and then no longer qualifies, careful monitoring and re-evaluation at key developmental transitions is recommended. One important transition is before a child enters kindergarten; another is prior to entering second or third grade; a third is just before transitioning to middle school. One strategy that does not fit with current evidence is assuming that a young alcohol-exposed child will ‘grow out of’ apparently mild early delays, and therefore not providing early intervention services or developmental monitoring. Estimated rates of fetal alcohol syndrome in international settings are sparse in the literature. They are based on variable definitions and methods of ascertainment and range from 1 in 1000 to less than 1 in 10,000 live births. The incidence is related to the population studied, with highest incidence reported in areas where heavy drinking during pregnancy is common and where attention to diagnosis is greatest.

Reporting alcohol use during pregnancy can also be stigmatizing to birth mothers, especially if alcohol use is ongoing. In these cases, all diagnostic systems use an unknown prenatal alcohol exposure designation. A diagnosis of FAS is still possible with an unknown exposure what causes fetal alcohol syndrome level if other key features of FASD are present at clinical levels. A syndrome is a group of symptoms that occur together as the result of a particular disease or abnormal condition. Fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are completely preventable.

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